State Falls Behind On Abuse Registry For Group Home Workers

Fired group-home workers remain in the field

May 29, 2014|By JOSH KOVNER, jkovner@courant.com

The state department responsible for the care of thousands of intellectually disabled clients has failed in dozens of cases to place the names of group home workers fired for abuse onto a registry – created for the purpose of alerting other group homes not to hire those workers.

As a result, potentially dangerous individuals remained in the field, free to be hired by unwitting agencies and possibly perpetuating a cycle of abuse, according to a state audit released Thursday.

As of late 2013, there was a backlog of 182 cases in which a fired worker's name had not been entered into the abuse and neglect registry at the Department of Developmental Services, according to the report by the state Auditors of Public Accounts.

Department officials acknowledged Thursday that the backlog has increased to 184 since September 2013, despite hiring additional workers to handle the registry cases. Thirty-nine new cases have come in, and the registry unit has processed 37 of them.

The names of the fired group home workers haven't been entered because the required hearings before developmental services officials haven't been held.

State law requires that, within 45 days after the worker is fired for substantiated abuse, the department notify the worker that his name has been submitted for placement on the registry and that a hearing will be convened.

"Until the decision is rendered to place an employee on the registry, they can continue to work in the field of direct care, with another employer, potentially putting other clients at risk,'' the report states.

The auditors said developmental services was failing to monitor the pending registry cases, and that its method of gathering information on the behavior of workers for private contractors was fragmented.

In its response to the finding, the department said it has hired four people to work in the registry unit and is establishing a single system to capture information on abuse and neglect. The department said it was also looking to hire more hearing officers.

The audit also found that the pace of investigations into serious cases of abuse and neglect that come to the attention of the department is too slow.

When allegations arise at a developmental services facility or at a private agency that contracts with the state, investigations are generally required to be completed within 90 days.

The auditors looked at the 243 open investigations as of Sept. 30, 2012, and found that all of them were older than 90 days and that many were older than six months. One was 53 months old.

Department spokeswoman Joan Barnish said the agency "will be … including key partners from other agencies, the provider community and families to develop strategies for simplification and quality improvement to the investigation process."